Conflict by grangergurl
Chapter Notes: Thank you so much for sticking with me through all this time. THERE IS A CHARACTER DEATH IN THIS CHAPTER!!
You like R&R's, right? Well, please R&R mine, then!!
Harry came swirling out of the fireplace on the first floor. He quickly passed a man who was upside-down in midair and using a chair as an anchor, a woman who had sprouted many heads, and a young girl who was repeatedly doing back hand-springs. A bored-looking brunette witch was lazing back in her chair. Harry walked right up to her. “What?” she yawned.
“I need to see your best healer immediately,” Harry said.
“Sorry, but Healer Fletchinger is busy right now. Can I make an appointment?”
“I need to see him NOW!” Harry was losing his temper, which made the witch tremble. It was then that she noticed his scar.
“Oh, I’m awfully sorry, Mr. Potter. Let me bring you to him.” Another witch immediately took her place as she led him up the stairs. “Is everything alright?”
Harry shook his head, signifying that he wasn’t ready to speak. They hit the fifth floor and stopped. “Isn’t this just a shop and tearoom?” Harry asked.
“Saint Mungo’s goes much higher than just five floors, Mr. Potter,” was her reply. “Oh, and I’m Lisle, by the way.” Harry nodded and waited for something to happen.
The witch pulled out her wand and tapped it on one of the tables, which began changing into a set of spiraling stairs. After they had reached the top, the stairs melted back into the table at the bottom. Harry tore his eyes from the table to take in his surroundings. He was in a tiled hall that looked like all the other halls in the hospital. She led him up another flight of stairs and pulled him into a messy office with a small desk. “Wait here,” Lisle said simply. She left.
Not long after, a weathered old man entered the office and offered his hand. Harry shook it briefly and automatically began. “Healer Fletchinger, I need your help. I think my wife has Traconis Vaximous.”
Much to Harry’s surprise, Healer Fletchinger laughed. “You’re kidding, right?” Harry shook his head solemnly. Fletchinger’s laughter ceased immediately. “Does she have a continuous cough? What about low blood pressure? Dimming eyes?”
Harry nodded to each question. The revered Healer fell back into his chair, his head in his hands. “You know the only cure, right?” Harry again shook his head. “Where can I find this dragon?”
“You should try Romania. That’s where the eggs were recovered.”
Harry then asked the question that had been bothering him ever since finding out what Ginny’s illness was. “How much time does she have left? I mean, before she…she…you know.”
Fletchinger gave Harry a pitying look and replied, “How long has she had it?”
“Well, she had her dulling eyes since…well, since three years ago when we married.”
Healer Fletchinger suddenly looked urgent. “Are you sure? That means she has…” he calculated, “only a few months, maybe weeks left. Harry Potter, for all I know, this is the longest someone has lived through it. She could be dying as we speak!”
Harry, in disbelief, backed out of the office and began running down stairs as fast as he could. The hidden staircase opened as he came to it. He apparated as soon as he hit the ground floor.
When Harry appeared at the Weasley’s, he was definitely not prepared for what he saw. Death Eaters had surrounded the house, and Harry had difficulty slipping by through a gap unnoticed. It was luckily dark. Harry heard curses and hexes being shot, and saw people dropping to the ground. Obviously, the Aurors had arrived. Harry jumped through a window, and he knew what to do. He ran immediately down to the basement. Ginny and Joshua were on the beach, hiding in a cave. Harry searched and searched until he heard Ginny whisper, “Harry? Is that you?”
Harry joined them and immediately said, “Ginny, they’re here. How, though?”
“I know, Harry. You won’t believe this, but Draco Malfoy was leading them. The rest of the family is out fighting them.”
“We have to get out of here, Ginny.” He took Ginny’s arm and she picked up Joshua, resting him on her hip. They ran and ran until they were next to the front door of the Burrow. “We can’t apparate, Joshua is too young. Ginny, I want you to hide with him back in the bedroom. I need to go fight.”
Ginny nodded, and though worried, she grabbed the family clock and ran back down into the basement. Harry took a deep breath and opened the door. He heard Remus Lupin’s shouts of “Petrificus Totalus” and Molly’s cries of “Sectusempra!"
He worked his way through many Aurors, all while dodging curses thrown in the wrong directions. Harry finally came to a Death Eater that wasn’t fighting. “Avada-” Harry was quicker. “Expelliarmus!”
The Death Eater’s wand flew away, and Harry promptly stunned him. He then moved on to the next Death Eater, which was obviously an old and worn Bellatrix Lestrange. She strutted up to him and flicked out her wand.
“Harry Potter. How I have longed to kill you for the Dark Lord, but you ruined me when you killed him. Ah, vengeance is sweet,” she laughed maniacally.
“Bellatrix Lestrange. How I have longed to kill you. But you ruined me when you killed Sirius Black. No, revenge is sweetest,” Harry retorted.
Bellatrix laughed. “Are you mocking me, Harry Potter? That will be the last thing you ever do. Besides, my dear cousin got what he deserved.”
“AVADA KEDAVRA!!” Bellatrix’s eyes widened, but then she fell to the hard ground.
Harry… Harry heard his name on the wind. “Sirius? Is that you?” Harry… He suddenly felt happier than he had ever felt in his life. He knew that he was in his godfather’s ghostly embrace.
Neville appeared out of nowhere quite suddenly.
“You killed her, didn’t you? I would’ve liked too, but thank you,” Neville looked very somber, for he had been denied the glee of avenging his parents.
“You may still be able to…” Harry had noticed that Bella had been getting up.
“Harry Potter. You are foolish. You think that I did not make one or two Horcruxes myself?”
“Lestrange…” Neville growled.
“Is that you, Longbottom? Ah, how sweet. Are you seeking vengeance as well?”
“Aren’t you down to your last Horcrux, Lestrange? Let’s see, Voldemort had six, and you’re lesser than him and he wouldn’t let you be as good as him, so you would have five? Let’s see…McGonagall got you first, then Remus. I believe Bill Weasley got you last year, and then Kingsley Shacklebolt. Harry got you now, so…no more Horcruxes left, are there?”
Realization suddenly dawned on Bella, and she began to scamper away. Not fast enough, though. She forced her last breath, and then Neville killed her.
Harry left him alone to enjoy his parents’ embrace, as he had felt Sirius’.
He realized that he had been fighting for a while, so he ran back to the Burrow. Ginny was waiting at the front door, which Harry slammed and locked behind him. “I thought I told you to stay in the room!”
“But Harry, the clock said you were dead!” Ginny had indeed been crying.
“Come here, the clock is wrong.” Harry hugged her and Joshua, who she had been carrying.
Suddenly, the front door blew open. As the smoke cleared, Draco Malfoy swooped in. “Potter, how nice to see you. I see you have started your own dear family. Tut-tut, a blood-traitor like Weasley? Come, come, now! You vanquished the Dark Lord! You can do better than that,” he pointed at a horrified Ginny.
“Malfoy,” Harry seethed. “Get out.”
“Oooh still got a temper, have we? We can’t raise the children like that!”
“Tell that to your father! Oh, wait! You can’t, because I killed him along with the rest of your family!!”
“I will ruin your life as you have ruined mine!” Draco disappeared, but not before yelling, “Avada Kedavra!”
His wand, however, wasn’t pointed at Harry…or Ginny. Instead, it had been pointed at Joshua, who, to Ginny’s anguished cries, fell limp in her arms.